Week 1 P90x3 MASS schedule Review!

Week 1 P90x3 MASS schedule Review!

My progress so far!

Sunday was rest day. :)

Monday I did x3 yoga. That one has SOME challenging moves (unlike yoga from p90x with lots of challenging moves-makes it hard to do) with balancing and lots of stretching. Perfect combination - leaves me feeling at peace/Relaxed when completed. Not over an hour and a half-only 30 minutes. So nice.

Tuesday was cardio day so i popped in agility x. This one is HITT focused- which means it's high intensity. Love this one though,  has plus pushups, running in a circle, leg kicks with jumps, jump squats, and jump lunges, etc. A lot of fun and it gets your heart rate going.

Wednesday I did my favorite-total synergistics. This one is a full body workout. Has pull ups, weighted squats, push ups, weighted lunges, core work, and pull ups, etc. Tons of variety-you never get bored.

Thursday I did the workout called the challenge. This one goes by super fast. Its all push ups and pull ups. I feel super strong after this one.  Felt like I could pop out more push ups. Pull ups aren't as easy (I used the bands for all of my pull ups. ) I like the pace of this one. Has a burn out at the end too which I like.

Friday I slowed it down and did Pilates x. Its a great laying down workout. It really works me without too much effort. I'm not liking all the breathing you have to do in this one but love it overall. Especially the last move.

Saturday I did a workout called incinerator. Great upper body workout. Focused on arms.  I don't mind this one. Need to up my weights more though.

Overall it was a great week. I really enjoyed all my workouts. Eating wise I stayed on track, and went off just a little.  I'll do better this week. Anyway just a daily/weekly post on my p90x3 progress!

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Until next time,
-Melissa

My most recent before/after picture! 5 years ago to TODAY

My results: From 5 years ago to today

If you told me 5 years ago that I would have the results I do now (from working out/doing whatever it takes) I would of told you there is no way, it's never going to happen. I still am in AWE that I did this...
Through consistently doing my workouts, working on my nutrition, and personal growth (mind work-keep believing in myself) I was able to get where I am today. I will say the support that I get daily from the accountability groups I'm involved in accelerated my results. Now I feel like nothing can stop me. If I can do it, you can do it. Never give up. Go after your dreams.   Just because you don't see results right away doesn't mean they won't come.  Have faith, believe in yourself. You can do anything you set your mind to.  Don't forget that.

Interested in changing your life and accelerating your results? Email me or Facebook me and ask how you can receive more information on how you can join my next accountability group in April. I'd love to help you achieve the same results I did. To ensure you'll get the best results, I give all of my personal tips to you in my groups-including how to overcome setbacks, mind shift tricks, my personal recipes, meal plans, and more. The sooner you get to me, the sooner you'll start seeing results! Looking forward to hearing from you. :)

Until next time,
-Melissa

P90x3 results! Day 90 is Finally here!

The day is finally here!  I just finished 90 days of p90x3! Here's my results!

I have to say,  I REALLY enjoyed this program. So much so I'm starting over tomorrow!  This time I'll be doing the MASS schedule, to gain more muscle! I'm super pumped up about it, and even more pumped up about what kind of results I get this next time!  I'll make sure to document my journey!  Gotta say though, 30 minutes a day on this program is SO NICE.  And doable.  Hey, anyone can do 30 minutes!  The meal plan is easy to follow too. I just put in my macros that we're calculated for me and BAM!  Got it. My fav workouts on this by the way we're MMX, pilates, yoga, and agility x (at first I hated that one. ) The workouts aren't easy, but they're also shorter which makes it easier to get through them. Totally worth going for it!  If you stick to the nutrition (mostly,  I cheated here and there and still got results) and do the workouts *I skipped some, shouldn't have though* then you'll see results.

Look for my next post regarding my new MASS schedule!  Should be interesting!

Until next time,
-Melissa

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Are cheat meals allowed while getting Fit?

I get asked this a lot, "do you allow yourself to have cheat meals while you are sticking to your goals?" (Whether I'm maintaining OR losing?) My answer is...YES!  I still let myself indulge every so often, for long term success. (The only time I cut back on it is if I'm wanting to lose a lot in a shorter time period.) 

Mostly I believe that everything should be in moderation or else you will end up depriving yourself,  which leads to yo yo dieting. And we don't want that!  So, are there rules for cheat meals?  Oh yeah.  Do I follow them to a T? I wish I could say yes, all the time, but I'm human, and I slip up.

For example, the other night I went to my friends wedding and went a little overboard. Ok, a lot overboard haha. I filled my plate with all the food they had to offer in the buffet line. And made sure to eat all of it not paying attention to the oversized portions.  I even felt stuffed at one point but I kept eating like I hadn't ate for days.  Then!  If that wasn't enough I went for cake!  Needless to say shortly after I felt miserable.  Gasy, bloated, you name it. My stomach felt like it had bricks in it. It ruined my mood, my blood sugar crashed -I felt awful. Made me realize something though.  THIS is why I don't eat this way all the time.  I physically get sick and hurt all over.  

 So what are the rules for cheat meals? They're simple. Follow these and you won't have to go through what I did.

(If you can't see the picture, it says: 1. No guilt, 2. Plan your indulgence meals, 3. Don't forget everything you know about portion control, Like I did. ) 4. Limit your indulgence meals, and 5. Move on-just because you let yourself go, don't allow it to continue. Enjoy and move on.

If you cheated on your lifestyle eating plan, and you're feeling guilty-first,  don't beat yourself up. And 2nd, you're human,  it happens. The most important thing is to get back up. Remember, it's not what happens to you, but how you REACT to what happens to you. Just a reminder!

Until next time,
Melissa

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What I do every day for long term weight loss success-Mind work Series Part 1

In this post,  I'm going to discuss steps to help make the mind switch from EXCUSES mode to RESULTS mode. It's not easy changing anything-it takes consistency & time.  It does work IF you practice it everyday. Constantly. Not just every so often. That's the trick.

•  Strategies that help:

First things first, to train your mind (when it comes to losing weight) you need to learn how to control your "resistance/giving in muscle" in your brain. Yes,  these exist.  And YES you can control them. But how?  Practice makes perfect. It's simple. The more you resist, the more your resistance muscle grows. It's a constant thing. You do this day in and day out-you'll make resisting a part of you.

For example, in the past, at my previous job, there used to always be pizza and all kinds of goodies in the break room. Back then I dived right in, I couldn't resist. Now I can comfortably resist in these types of situations. Why?  I trained my thoughts to think a certain way towards "off limits foods".

My brain- my new controlled "learned" thoughts (i think these as soon as I see off limit foods):

• "These foods will make me sick,  physically and mentally (guilt)."
• "This food isn't to fuel - I only put foods that provide nutrients (unless it's a planned meal)."
• "Eating this will only provide short term satisfaction-not worth it."
• "Food ends up being waste either way. Either in your body or on the trash. Not worth it."
• "Food can be sabotaging. If I eat it,  I will crave it and want more of it. It's better to have none of it so I'll have control."

You can train your mind to think this way above OR teach it excuses (shown in example below-which YOU let in. You CAN avoid them by reversing them,will explain in a minute.)

Excuses example:

•  "But it tastes so good. "
• "I have a weakness for food so I eat it. "
• "I don't care if it makes me fat. "
• "I might regret it but it's worth it. "
• "I'll have a taste, then a bite, it's no big deal."
• "I can't help myself. "
• "Everyone else is eating it. "
• "It's just calories-they don't matter, nobody's counting anyway. "
• "It's too hard to say no. "

It may seem impossible but you CAN reverse excuses. These can be hard to feed off-you'll need lots of practice, and I find that flashcards help. Especially if you read what you need to reverse your thought to (right after you make the excuse. ) -why it's worth reversing. Puts it right in your face so you're forced to read it.

• Example: You use the "it tastes so good" excuse.  Here's what you need to tell yourself to reverse your excuse: It may taste good but it'll be short team satisfaction. I prefer to eat foods that are much healthier that taste good (like shakeology) that offer me long term satisfaction=fit, abs, high energy, confidence. That's worth putting the bad food down and having a different choice instead. Besides,  you'll feel less guilty and better physically.

Stay tuned for more info on mind work!

Until next time,
-Melissa

A look back at how I went from being burned out/at a plateau in my weight loss/fitness to working out 6 days a week/Eating clean.

I've been doing a lot of thinking. I've been trying to remember how I felt when I gained weight previously and how my mindset made the SWITCH. (So I can help others go through the process.) I've been trying to go back to where I was & remember the EXACT steps I took right after, & how I changed my attitude. Then I came across an old blog post I wrote in January of 2012 (from my previous blog) where I discussed how I went from being burnt out and letting the weight stack up to choosing to CHANGE IT. It's literally a step by step process on how I got BACK into my GOOD habits. Pretty exciting if you ask me!!! If you want to know the SECRET tips to my success, read on.

Here's word for word what I went through (from my previous blog.):

I knew I needed to get back into it. I wanted it BAD. My tipping point was when I saw this quote...it said "you need to make BIG changes to SEE BIG changes."

 I was READY to START OVER and get BACK to where I was (before I got burnt out) and was WILLING to do WHATEVER it took to get there.

So! I started to re-do all my goals, and I made a "to do list" and STUCK TO IT! I started adding in some self.com workouts (a lot of them were weights because I knew I needed more weight type workouts. I wanted to try something DIFFERENT, so I could "change it up"- I started using kettle bells!)

After it wasn't challenging anymore, I started to find NEW workouts and did those, and then eventually (in APRIL) started to get back into my OLD weight lifting routine (one that I used back when I first started losing weight 5 years ago!)  Did that 2 days a week and the other days I did power 90 for my cardio!

 I then started to get bored with my routine (mid way through) and thought to myself, I need something where it takes the guess work out. Something where I didn't have to come up with NEW routines anymore, and I was shown how to do FORM. So I decided to pop in one of my dad's p90x dvds to see if i could do one of his weight lifting routines instead. I decided to not do the WHOLE video-just added parts to my routine. Eased myself in. I started REALLY liking the NEW,FRESH routines from p90x...so much so I decided...I wanted to change my routine COMPLETELY and TRY p90x FULL FORCE! Was I scared?? YES! I was very scared. BUT NOT SCARED ENOUGH to where I wasn't willing to TRY.

 I desperately needed CHANGE. My workout routine got OLD...I needed to RAMP IT UP. And boy oh boy..this program gave me a FRESH NEW start..and I was LOVING it! AND it gave me the CHALLENGE I needed.

Of course when I first started..I modified..and OMGOSH the weight lifting ones were NO JOKE (when I did the WHOLE routine)..I cried a lot because I felt defeated-too hard, couldn't lift that heavy (started at 5 lbs!) and it was LONG and PAINFUL. BUT, I didn't give up because it was challenging, I KEPT GOING.

 I remember when I first popped in the AB RIPPER X..OMGOSH SO HARD. I could barely do ANY of the moves and I had to take SO MANY breaks!! It was very defeating. And when I tried kenpo x and YOGA X, OMGOSH! RIDICULOUS! SO hard!

 But I was determined to GET RESULTS...so YEA the next day after I felt like I got ran over by a bus physically..but MENTALLY I was on CLOUD 9. I felt SO PROUD of myself for doing this!!!

And one of the reasons I was able to keep going..was posting on my facebook every time I reached a milestone. I remember day 30 I didn't see much progress, but I then I got to day 60 and BAM progress! The program wasn't getting any easier though-especially phase 3.

Phase 3 I decided to DEDICATE myself even more-I wanted to see results-so I upped my nutrition and GAVE UP REFINED SUGAR FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH! (I allowed myself only natural sugar.) The first 2 weeks were hard but after that..you stop craving it!

AND WOW sugar is in EVERRRYTHING. Salad dressings, BREAD..things I never thought of! I had to check EVERY box, EVERY nutrition fact. I remember always checking and then putting stuff back and not having it because it had sugar in it. I had to be REALLLLY extra strict and it was NOT easy.

 
Lets just say I wouldn't recommend giving up ALL sugar, unless your willing to give up salad dressings and bread...its super hard and limits what you can eat!

SO day 90 finally came and I had lost 12 lbs!!! And 3 inches on my waist! I went from a size 8 to a size 4!!!! ALL by using p90x day after day!! P90x works people!!!

The next day I left for a cruise! I ate everything in sight. I basically binged like crazy and only worked out 3 times. I remember doing boring workouts at the gym on the boat-and WISHING I had my precious p90x with me.

When I came home I took another week off of p90x (I did 3 days of it but not 6) and felt lousy, my anxiety was up from feeling like I might gain everything I lost back. And when you go from working out all the time (6 days a week with p90x) to only 3 days..its depressing! You feel lazier..its hard to explain.

I decided I wanted to start back up p90x, the sooner the better so I can say I finished another round...faster. SO I restarted and thought "what in the world did I put myself up to"..its HARD, it HURTS, but I pushed through. Got to day 30-saw results immediately this time. Then day 60, and BAM it came faster than I thought..day 90. I was FINALLY able to see abs come through..FINALLY!

I was done was ROUND 2..and couldn't believe it! I didn't even know i could finish ROUND 1, let alone ROUND 2! Let just say I wasn't done yet...I decided to make a new goal-to do p90x IN A YEAR. I still had 2 more rounds to go!! So I  got plugged in with a fb accountability group (which SUPPORT IS KEY TO RESULTS..without it its HARD to stay FOCUSED) and decided to GO AT IT AGAIN..started round 3!

In these first 2 months it was HARD to stick to my strict diet-Especially on holidays such as Thanksgiving AND Christmas! What's crazy is I'd come home, EXHAUSTED (literally almost fell asleep at the wheel) got up, put on my work out clohes, and pulled out p90x. And worked out through it!

 I actually LOST weight FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER during the holidays!

I am so proud to say I went after my goal and am NOW in the BEST SHAPE EVER!! All because I started p90x and fell in LOVE with it! YES its still challenging, but its soooo worth it. ;) Love love love it!!! NEW LIFE, NEW ME!

Yes, this was a LONG post. BUT, I felt it was helpful/it will inspire others so I decided to go ahead and post it anyway! If you've read this far, just know-nothing is impossible-if you put your MIND in it. Start small, challenge yourself (get UNCOMFORTABLE), and BELIEVE! You CAN do it, I'm just a normal girl, who was overweight and decided to CHANGE. YOU CAN TOO!

For more tips/advice/motivation, follow me on facebook! Make sure to message me telling me who you are and how you found me so I can reach out to you!

Wishing you all the best on your fitness journey,

-Melissa

Spent the day with my friend - How I managed to eat SUPER healthy/got my workout in

Today I got to spend quality time with one of my besties! I just love her!  I spent all day with her and still ate healthy and stuck to my goals! I'll go over exactly what I ate/and how I managed to get my workout in---while at her house!

First, we were starving (she was really hungry since she's pregnant!) so we decided to go out to lunch right away. We went to a breakfast/lunch place called "The Egg and I" near us. It's mainly a breakfast place, (their lunch menu has less options) I was pleasantly surprised at what they had to offer on their lunch menu though-I noticed right away that they had yummy sounding wraps! This is what I ordered:

It's called the Chicken Ranch wrap. It comes in a sun dried tomato wrap with chopped chicken, chopped tomatoes, chopped lettace, ranch, and cheese. I told them to take off the cheese and to give me light avocado ranch instead. Then I chose a fruit cup for my side. It was delicious!  Healthy and low fat! (My friend got a breakfast burrito.)

Afterwards, we went to Barnes and Noble. We hung out there for awhile. She wanted Starbucks, I didn't get anything because I had already brought my snacks/water bottle in my bag! I ate two no bake energy balls for my snack. Delish.

We ended up going to the mall a little after that, where I had 2 more of those no bake energy balls for another snack.  I love that they're so easy to grab and eat. We walked around the mall, went to a few stores and then left. 

On the way home,  I had my chocolate shakeology on me (I pre blended it before I left with ice and water so I could have it ready) and drank that for my pre workout snack! Learn more about Shakeology! 

Pre blended and ready to go! 

Once we got to her house, she wanted to do yoga and told me I could work out there if I wanted. Lucky for me I always have my p90x3 workout dvd's on me as well as my workout clothes/cross trainer shoes! So I quickly set up and crushed my workout!  I did triometrics from p90x3!  Here's a pic of me at her house after my workout! 

That workout is ALL leg focused by the way-it wore me out!  Afterwards we all sat down and had dinner (I had 2 lean pork chops, cucumber and tomato salad, and fruit salad that my friend's husband made. Delicious!) I went home shortly after. 

All and all it was a great day. I really enjoyed hanging out and spending quality time with my bestie! She's the best. I love how supportive she is with my healthy eating and workout habits! Makes it effortless to have a healthy day. Can't wait to see her again! Until next time, 

-Melissa

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